Controversy 101: Abortion and Judaism

Maya Berezovsky
University of Minnesota
Assistant Editor
KOACH-on-Campus

People take various positions on medical issues, often based on personal experience. They or a loved one did or did not choose abortion as an option. Or maybe a grandmother or child was taken off a respirator—or kept on one. Doctors may reform their opinions about medical issues after witnessing a difficult pregnancy or a family reunion following a difficult surgical procedure. After experiencing or observing these life-threatening incidents, many people develop or solidify stances on medical issues.

However, many people making medical decisions take stances because of what Jewish ethics have to say about medical issues.

Abortion is a key example of a medical procedure that demands intense decision-making to be made with regard to Jewish ethics.

Of course, as with most issues in Judaism, there is not just one rabbinic stance on abortion. It is stated clearly in Mishnah Ohalot 7:6 that a woman is required to have an abortion if her life is in danger. Although all life is considered sacred in Judaism, the health of the mother is always ranked first first, before the life of a potential child. Essentially all rabbinic figures agree on that. Rabbis also concur that a woman is prohibited from abortion at any stage if her purpose is convenience. A statement approved by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly speaks of its "abhorrence of casual abortion."

Orthodox rabbis are the most restrictive about abortion and generally believe it should be prohibited in all cases, except when the mother’s life is in danger. Conservative rabbis hold a broader view and many believe that if the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape, an abortion is permissible because the mother’s mental health may be threatened.

One other agreed-upon point by rabbis in all streams of Judaism is that a fetus does not become a human being before its head emerges from the mother. Therefore, abortion is not murder because it does not involve ending a life. However, due to a relatively new procedure called partial-birth abortion, the possibility that this form of abortion is in fact murder has been voiced by some rabbinic authorities.

According to the Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary, a partial-birth abortion is an abortion in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, in which the death of the fetus is induced after it has passed partway through the birth canal.

As mentioned earlier, Jewish law states that a fetus becomes a person after its head has emerged. Most partial-birth abortions occur only after the baby’s navel has appeared. Rabbis believe even more strongly in this case that a mother may not make a decision to have an abortion based on convenience, nor may she may look at the half-born child and decide the baby is not what she wanted. However, there remains debate over whether or not a partial-birth abortion is permissible if the procedure saves the mother.

Many rabbis, including Rabbi J. David Bleich, the author of several books on Jewish medical ethics, believe the purpose of a partial-birth abortion is to end the life of the baby and not necessarily to save the life of the mother. Rabbi Bleich says a mother ought to have a cesarean section if the birth is realized to be life-threatening to the mother in the last term.

While rabbis take strong stances on abortion, halakhic flexibility, when warranted, remains a rule. For example, an Orthodox woman in New Jersey was about to give birth to her eighth child, a hydroencephalic fetus, meaning the head was too large to emerge from the birth canal. Her doctor told her a c-section was a possibility but she decided it was not an option if she planned to have more births. After a c-section, she felt her uterus would not be strong enough for future fetuses. She declared her wish to have a partial-birth abortion and rabbinic authorities allowed it.

Judaism emphasizes the importance of freedom of choice, which includes the freedom to choose what we do with our bodies and with what is growing inside of our bodies. However, at the same time, as Jews, we believe that our bodies are on loan to us by God. Therefore, while some people make medical decisions based on what they see, feel, or hear, Jews are encouraged to make these decisions informed by what Judaism teaches us as well. While Jewish law clearly says what a woman ought or ought not to do in extreme cases, the gray areas of abortion are subject to much rabbinical debate—especially when it comes to the latest abortion procedures.

Want to learn more? The Committee of Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly has opened their online database of responsa literature to all readers. Visit www.rabbinicalassembly.org for more information.

Maya Berezovsky is a junior in the Journalism School at the University of Minnesota. Born, raised, and educated in snowy Minnesota, she is not sure where she will begin her career after graduation. She is spending the spring semester studying abroad in Northeast Australia. Besides travel, Maya enjoys writing, movies, yoga, and spending time with her family. She plans to become a journalist and to write several novels under a pseudonym.

[Posted 3/9/05]